Richard Boyd Barrett: Protest Works - Calls for Price Controls
Richard Boyd Barrett invokes James Connolly and the origins of the trade union movement to defend last week's protests and demand urgent action on price controls amid the cost of living crisis. He argues the protests were justified because the government refused to listen to repeated calls for measures to relieve hardship.
Historical context: Richard Boyd Barrett recalls 1913 and James Connolly, describing how a year of disruptive strike action helped form the Irish trade union movement. He frames that history as a tradition of struggle against deprivation, poverty and economic inequality.
Why people protested: Boyd Barrett says recent demonstrators acted because the government ignored repeated calls for price controls and effective interventions. He stresses that protest is a legitimate response to suffering and insists that protest works.
Consequences and demand for action: The speech positions the demonstrations as a necessary pressure point to force political change on cost of living policies. Boyd Barrett calls for continued protest and stronger government measures to address economic hardship and inequality.
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In 1913, Ireland's greatest revolutionary, James Connolly, whose statue is behind us here in this building, led the Dublin working class out for a year of disruptive strike action that shut the city down. And that's how the trade union movement in this country was formed. And it was done in a fight against deprivation, poverty and economic inequality, and because of the refusal of the rich and the powerful to understand the pain, the hardship and the suffering that working people were enduring at that time. That is a great tradition. And the people who went out protesting last week did so because this government refused to listen to the repeated calls for price controls and effective action to deal with the hardship and suffering affecting people with the cost of living crisis. They were right to protest, protest works and we need more protests.
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